Posted on 02/23/2025 1:27:41 PM PST by ChicagoConservative27
You’ve been crushing your health and fitness goals recently: Eating protein at every meal, getting seven to nine hours of sleep, and hitting the heavy weights at the gym. But in the past few days, you’re feeling sluggish. Why can’t I lift as heavy as usual? I’m doing everything right.
Well, there’s actually a chance you’re doing too much—and that’s where a deload week comes in.
A deload week is “a period of time where you reduce the volume in your workout,” says Almoni Ellis, CPT, a NASM-certified personal trainer. You either take a break from the gym completely, lighten your load, or do different activities for exercise.
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
It is confusing and often complicated.
Much depends on what’s your baseline fitness, intensity of your workouts and your age just to mention a few factors.
It’s a challenge and there no “one size fits all” solution.
Been weight training most of my adult life. You have to be able to adjust your goals, listen to your body and adapt.
Moderation is key and pain is not gain.
I suggest that people listen to their bodies and try to find a sweet spot. I sometimes workout everyday for 10 days if I feel good. And if I feel tired from working out, I take off a few days until I feel energized again.
I also suggest mixing it up with HIIT (1 or 2 days a week), endurance, and at least one day a week of Zone 2 (that's a recent addition).
When I work out indoors, I keep my heart rate up by moving every 2 or 3 minutes from the rowing machine to the step platform to weights (moving it around keeps it from getting boring).
And one last note, put a loud workout video on the TV or computer. That makes a huge difference. Here's an example: Workout Music 2025 Summer Songs ❤️🔥 Fitness & Gym Motivation
I can’t scale bacK!
Maybe if I scaled back from one workout a year to one workout every two years. Yeah, I’ll try that!!
I didn’t see any serious gains until I did at least 3 times a week.
From personal experience, this is true.
I have had periods where I plateau despite best efforts and diet, but after a lower intensity week and starting back up again, I add power again within a short time.
“””Maybe if I scaled back from one workout a year to one workout every two years. Yeah, I’ll try that!!”””
I work out every day. I mean, it’s not like those 12 ounce cans of Diet Mountain Dew lift themselves out of the refrigerator..
This is a subject of keen interest to me. A certain lady suggested I lose weight and offered a reward in exchange.
I’m not a heavy weight trainer but I’ve had to learn this about working out with weights, chin-ups, pushups, and my walks and runs. I change things up more often now. Of course I’m also old, so recovery takes longer.
I check in at the gym 4:30am nearly every day. 3 sets of 30 sit ups on inclined bench. 3 sets bar curls. Then to various machines and free lifting.
Lately I’ve loosened up a bit on that. But the result of exercise has been nothing short of invigorating. Frees the mind.
Many people that are serious into fitness are in a way addicted to it.
Telling someone like that to “take it easy” for a while goes against what they think and feel they need to do. It’s counterintuitive.
Did you used to have info. about your Concept 2 rower on your FR profile page? I bought a C2 in 2017ish in large part because of that information. Thanks for posting it!
Swimming = endurance
Was this written by the same people who built the food pyramid ?
I’ve heard that the exercise should be every other day, because it’s on the rest days that your body is healing itself and building then muscle up.
I don’t do a “deload week”, I do a deload month.
Yeah, as a life-long gym rat I have learned that is the key, listen to your body. I can hit it hard with the weights and some days, yeah, the intensity is just not there. That’s okay. The days I do cardio I may have a day that I just run out of gas about half-way through. I’ve learned that’s okay, and I try not to beat myself up about it.
And then there are times when I hate the gym and ask myself why am I still trying to push myself. I basically quit the gym for a week or two... and then I feel horrible, miss it, and go back.
Yeah, listen to your body.
From the article:
“You either take a break from the gym completely, lighten your load, or do different activities for exercise.”
The “plateau” theory has only been know since about the beginning of time. My first few years of lifting weights (late 80s) I worked out with a couple of fairly successful competitive body builders (I never reached their level). We constantly changed our routines, exercises, our on/off schedules (3 days on, one off for example), etc. We did weeks of heavy, low rep workouts, then weeks of light, high rep workouts. Variety is the key to growth.
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